This invention is hereafter described, for sake of clarity and brevity only, in terms of an iceberg floating in an ocean or sea of salt water. It is to be understood at the outset, however, that this invention broadly applies to any body floating in a liquid wherein it is desired to redirect the floating body from its natural drift path to a different predetermined float path. It is also to be understood that although this invention is particularly desirable for the redirection of exceedingly large, ponderous floating bodies which are not easily moved by physical means, this invention is equally adaptable to the redirection of drift path of small floating bodies as well.
Heretofore it has been desirable to move floating icebergs from their natural drift path when that drift path will cause the iceberg to collide with a fixed man-made or other obstacle. Such a redirection of drift path of an iceberg into a predetermined safer float path has been achieved by physical devices such as tow lines, slings, nets, harnesses, and the like physically attached to the iceberg, the opposite end of the tow lines, etc. being connected to a ship, tug, and the like which then literally pulls the iceberg into its desired predetermined float path. Some ships and tugs are also equipped to push icebergs. Such a concept is disclosed in relation to artificial ice islands in U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,715.
Icebergs are often of such ponderous size that they require a substantial amount of time and effort merely to install physical tow lines and the like, not to mention the expense and wear on the ship that has to move the iceberg by brute force, sometimes over very long distances. Further, when an iceberg reaches a large size or is of a critical dimension or configuration, it can tumble in the water thereby throwing off towlines, slings, and the like and this can make such approaches dangerous as well as time consuming and expensive.